Meta

Uncategorized

It looks like our friends at Oriental Trading Company have added some new items to their magical collection! I’m happy to promote these items as I think they have really good art work and are also cost effective. The napkins cost only $2.49 (before shipping cost) and and the magic party plates are only $2.99 for eight pieces. The Magical Door Banner is pretty cool for $10.00 and the cupcake stand is $9.00. See for yourself at Oriental Trading magic party items

Items like these really add an overall magic “feel” to the party and are impressive to your guests. When you hire me it completes the whole package and, Voila!, you have a magic party for your son or daughter.

Have a look at what Eddy’s mom did for his 5th birthday and magic show! It’s a custom made photo booth cut-out for everyone to take photos and share a memory of the event. Claudia is a very talented person when it comes to art and she did the drawing herself. It’s made of inexpensive foam core board which is readily available at arts and crafts stores and I’ve even seen it at dollar stores. You can use her idea to create your own and don’t forget to emblazon it with your child’s name so everyone will remember whose party it was. If you want to really “jazz” things up they sell magic props especially for magician photo booth’s on Amazon too. Kids hold up signs that say, “Abracadabra” and “Welcome to the Magic Show”. You can find them at https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Party-Photo-Booth-Props/dp/B01JMIPQHW

Thanks to Claudia and Eddy for sharing their magical idea with me and my readers! I had a great time at your party and enjoyed performing for all your guests.

If you’d like to have a magician at your party too check out my website at http://www.houstonmagician.com or email steve@houstonmagician.com. Thanks for reading.

A big issue you have when planning the timing of your party are your guests arrivals. It’s become more and more apparent that some guests don’t arrive on time. Prospective clients will often admit that “my family and friends are always late.” There are many reasons; traffic, getting the kids ready, etc.

Here’s a tip that will help get them to the party in good time. Tell them when the show is going to start. I’ve found that by telling them; “The magic show will start promptly at 3:00 pm” you will motivate them to be there before that time. This gives them a time limit on their arrival. While they may not be concerned about being a few minutes late for the party, they will care if they miss the show.

I’m telling you this out my personal desire for each and every child to experience the magic at the same time. It hurts to see the look of disappointment on the children’s faces when they walk through the front door and see that the show has already begun. Also, other children will later tell them what they missed and I had one child actually begin to cry when he realized he had missed my exciting opening sequence with a live dove.

So don’t just ask them to arrive when the party begins, tell them when the show starts too. I usually like to start 30 minutes after the party begins so time your guests arrival and you won’t have anyone disappointed.

Thanks for reading my blog, mobile users click on the cartoon picture of me at the top for the rest of my tips and advice on having a magic party.

When your guests arrive at a birthday party, one of the first questions they will ask is, “Where do I put the presents?” This makes a lot of sense since they’ve spent a good amount of their time buying and wrapping your little one’s gift, negotiated carrying it from their home to the car and finally into your living room. They naturally are ready to deliver it and accomplish one of the more difficult tasks that comes with attending a birthday event.

I’ve noticed a few times that the hostess hasn’t given a lot of thought to this and just points to a corner of the room and says, “Just put them over there”. This works only if someone else has already deposited a gift in that area and they can see where they’re indicating. Other times I’ve seen the hostess have a table designated as a specific place to put the gifts.

Look at the photo above and see what one of my clever parents did at their party. The table displays the cake and sweets ready for consuming. The banner clearly says, “MAGIC SHOW” so everyone knows what to expect in the way of entertainment. The area in front of the table is available as the place to put all the great gifts. I call this a “Birthday Table” and recommend you create one for your party too! They will not need to ask where to put the gifts and it makes a very nice display for your party. I’ve seen parents taking pictures of the Birthday Table to share with their friends on Facebook and Snapchat.

I keep very busy doing my magic show at children’s birthday parties but in this post I’d like to tell you about some other events I attend on a regular basis.

Day Cares and Pre-Schools hire me to do my kid friendly show especially during the summer months. The warm weather in Houston often keeps the little ones indoors and school directors like how my show keeps them occupied for a good hour during the hottest part of the day.

First Communions are a big event in the spring and after the ceremony many parents host a party in their homes or in a restaurant. My show is a nice way to entertain the children while the parents spend some time enjoying themselves.

Fundraisers for schools is a great way to use my magic show to entertain the students and raise some money for the PTO at the same time. I usually do a couple of shows and the students buy tickets. I offer a discount for multiple performances to aid the school’s fundraising effort.

Book Fairs hire me to perform and during the show I talk about the books I have written and how reading influenced me to become a magician. Libraries also like this program and elementary schools often have reading rewards programs for students who read a certain number of books during the year.

End of School parties are getting more and more popular especially for elementary schools. The parents usually host these events and my magic show is a great way to tell the kids, “Well Done!” on completing their year.

If you know of anyone who is involved in planning any of these events I hope you’ll direct them to my website: http://www.houstonmagician.com or have them give me a call at (281) 433-8352.

It is your responsibility to look after the safety of your guests whenever you host a party. Accidents do happen but you should do your best to avoid them by thinking ahead to prevent mishaps. On two occasions I have arrived at the event to find there was an ambulance sitting in front of the home. The first incident was a boy who fell out of a tree house and broke his arm. The second time, a large statue in the back garden fell over and injured a little girl. I’ve also witnessed kids being hurt pretty badly on jump houses and trampolines.

The key to preventing these things from happening is supervision. You have to keep an eye on the boys and girls at your party at all times! I know this is hard as you’re the host and doing your best to keep everyone happy and you cannot be two places at the same time. But as I said, it’s your responsibility to look after the safety of your guests. So, how can we do this?

One really good idea I’ve seen is to hire a babysitter. That’s right, a child coordinator to help you run the party will take a load off your mind. They can coordinate games and look after the safety of your little guests and they can also help serve food and drinks to the kids. You can also ask one of your relatives to help in this regard. Either way, getting some help is a good idea.

Other than that, you should do your best to create a safe environment at your party. One terrible idea that I’ve seen is to cover the floors of the party area with balloons. I’m not talking about helium-filled balloons tied to strings, I’m referring to lots of balloons simply blown up and dropped on the floor completely covering it. The balloons pop all through the party startling everyone over and over again. Also you cannot see the floor so anything actually on the floor will be stepped on and could cause a person to lose their balance. It’ s just a bad idea all around.

Have a first-aid kit within arms reach and make sure it’s well stocked. Remove (or support) large objects that could topple over. Have specific rules of behavior for jump houses, trampolines and large toys; especially those that involve children riding on them. Look for aggressive behavior, especially toward small children, and do what you can to stop it.

By looking after the safety of your guests you will insure a wonderful party experience for all involved. I hope you’ll contact me for entertainment at your party. Check out my website at http://www.houstonmagician.com. Have a fun and SAFE holiday season and thanks for reading.

Here’s a fun and exciting party game that I watched at one of my events. Sue and her daughter Maxine hosted a MAD HATTER BIRTHDAY PARTY with my magic show as the finale. One of the party games they played was quite clever and was a combination of a Scavenger Hunt and a Magic Piñata. Little pieces of paper were hidden in different parts of the house with clues as to the location of the next clue. At the end, the magic piñata was discovered and everyone took part in bashing it open for the eventual deluge of candy treats. Along the way, they found the blindfold, the bashing stick and little treats to keep their interest and excitement. If you’re having a piñata at your party why not make a game out of it and add some excitement? Thanks to Sue and Maxine for a great idea on a magical party game.

Please check out my website and Facebook page for information on making your party a magical event.